he multitudes of the North had always surpassed the Germans
and the Sclavs. They should therefore despise an army which seemed to be
composed more of a mass of fickle offscourings than of a firm and stout
soldiery.

By this harangue of King Ring he kindled high the hearts of the
soldiers. Now Brun, being instructed to form the line on Harald's
behalf, made the front in a wedge, posting Hetha on the right flank,
putting Hakon in command of the left, and making Wisna standard-bearer.
Harald stood up in his chariot and complained, in as loud a voice as he
could, that Ring was requiting his benefits with wrongs; that the man
who had got his kingdom by Harald's own gift was now attacking him; so
that Ring neither pitied an old man nor spared an uncle, but set his own
ambitions before any regard for Harald's kinship or kindness. So he bade
the Danes remember how they had always won glory by foreign conquest,
and how they were more wont to command their neighbours than to obey
them. He adjured them not to let such glory as theirs to be shaken by
the insolence of a conquered nation, nor to suffer the empire, which he
had won in the flower of his youth, to be taken from him in his outworn
age.

Then the trumpets sounded, and both sides engaged in battle with all
their strength. The sky seemed to fall suddenly on the earth, fields and
woods to sink into the ground; all things were confounded, and old Chaos
come again; heaven and earth mingling in one tempestuous turmoil, and
the world rushing to universal ruin. For, when the spear-throwing began,
the intolerable clash of arms filled the air with an incredible thunder.
The steam of the wounds suddenly hung a mist over the sky, the daylight
was hidden under the hail of spears. The help of the slingers was of
great use in the battle. But when the missiles had all been flung from
hand or engines, they fought with swords or iron-shod maces; and it was
now at close quarters that most blood was spilt. Then the sweat streamed
down their weary bodies, and the clash of the swords could be heard
afar.

Starkad, who was the first to set forth the history of this war in the
telling, fought foremost in the fray, and relates that he overthrew the
nobles of Harald, Hun and Elli, Hort and Burgha, and cut off the right
hand of Wisna. He also relates that one Roa, with two others, Gnepie and
Gardar, fell wounded by him in the field. To these he adds the father of
Skalk, whose name is not given.